Puzzle.



UNITED STATES PATENT elw PUZZLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21,' 1907.

Application filed March 7,1907. Serial No. 361.022.

T0 all whmn t nza/y concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER WERNER, a citizen of the Inited States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Puzzle, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to cards for playing solitaire, and its object is to provide a new and improved uzzle, arranged to require considerable skil on the part of the player to successfully solve the puzzle.

The invention consists of novel features and parts and combinations of the same, which will be more fully described hereinafter and then pointed out in the claims.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which the Egure is a face view of the puzzle.

The puzzle is preferablyT in the form of a deck of playing cards and consists of a number of cards, numbered consecutively and arranged in sets or suits, each set being formed of a number of cards, and each card being provided with a colored design, preferably a geometrical figure, the designs and their colors in a set being different, and the colors of the same designs in the several sets being different.

Now in order to successfully play the game or solve the problem, the cards of the deck must be so arranged in horizontal and vertical rows, that each row contains the same number of cards, that the aggregate amount of the numerals in each horizontal, vertical and diagonal row is the same, and that the same design and the same color do not appear more than once in the same row horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

As illustrated in the drawings, the deck of playing cards consists of sixteen cards, numbered consecutively from 1 to 16, and divided in sets or suits, each set being formed of four cards, of which one is provided on its face with the conventional figure of a star, another contains the figure of a square, another that of a cross, and the fourth the figure of a circle.

N ow four different colors are employed for coloring the said designs, say one red, another green, another blue and another yellow, that is, the four stars are colored differently, that is, one red, another blue, another green and the fourth yellow, and in a like manner the four crosses, the four squares and the four circles are colored red, green, blue and yellow, so that the color is not repeated in the same geometrical figures.

In arranging the cards in the four rows of four cards each, as indicated in the drawing, it is necessary, in order to properly solve or playthe game that no two cards of the same color or design shall be in a line or a row, either down, across, or diagonally, from one corner card to another corner card, at the same time the aggregate sum of the numerals in each horizontal, vertical or diagonal row niust be 34.

Many solutions of the gaine are possible, but the requirements for correct playing or solving of the game, as above noted, requires considerable skill on the part of the player.

Although I have specifically described the deck of cards to consist of sixteen cards, it is evident that it may consist of only nine, or of twenty-five, thirtyesix, forty-nine, etc.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. A puzzle comprising a deck of playing cards numbered consecutively and arranged in sets, each set being formed of a number of cards, each of which is provided with a colored design, the designs and colors of the cards in the set being different.

2. A puzzle comprising a deck of playing cards numbered consecutively and arranged in sets, each set being formed of a number of cards, each of which is provided vwith a colored design, the designs and colors of the cards in the set being different, and the color of the sameY designs in the several sets being different.

3. A puzzle comprising sixteen cards numbered consecutively and provided on their faces with geometrical figures, the cards being arranged in four sets of four cards each, the geometrical figures of the cards in each set being of a different shape and of a different color.

In testimony 'whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WALTER WERNER.

Witnesses:

THEO. G. HOSTER, -EVERARID B. MARSHALL. 

